Bahrain's Interior Ministry revoked Dr. Masaud Jahromi's citizenship without notice or opportunity to respond, on grounds of "terrorist activities" or "advocating regime change through illegal means." OUR PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES The Jahromi Archive Jahromi, Chair of the Ahlia University's Computer Science Department, has never participated in either of these. CCS wrote protesting such arbitrary denial of his basic human right to his nationality and deplored Jahromi being associated with known terro

....Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that “everyone has the right to a nationality,” and “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality....."

By Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A U.S.-based human rights group on Wednesday accused Sudanese soldiers of raping at least 221 women and girls in Sudan's Darfur region late last year after...

“India is a democratic country” he said. Mr Marri stated that since Pakistan openly supports Kashmir on political, diplomatic and moral basis then India should also should not hesitate to support Baloch democratic struggle for independence. Whereas it had long historical borders with Balochistan.

If India, United States and other democratic states want peace in the region and wish to limit Pakistan’s religious terrorism, then it should support the Baloch as India helped Bengalis during their liberation war in 1970s.

Hyrbyair Marri added, “Baloch are a natural ally of all those who believe in democracy, human rights and rule of law. A secular and independent Balochistan can only guarantee peace in the region. The democratic states must learn from the experience of Kurdistan. Baloch do not want to live in the state of perpetual war, poverty and subjugation. They want peace, stability, prosperity, freedom and dignity.”

The government has not carried out key recommendations of the 2011 Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry that it had pledged to adopt. Bahraini courts, which lack independence, sentenced more than 200 defendants to long prison sentences, including at least 70 for life, on broadly drawn terrorism and national security charges. Bahraini security forces fatally shot at least three people – including a boy of 14 – in circumstances indicating that they used excessive force.

“When you look at the evidence and tot up the abuses, it’s difficult to see how anyone could claim with a straight face that Bahrain is on the path to reform,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “Unfortunately, Bahrain’s allies in the West, in particular the UK, have become adept at seeing only what they wish to see.”

The Bahraini authorities must quash the conviction of prominent human rights defender, Nabeel Rajab, who has today been sentenced to six months in prison for posting comments online which were considered insulting to the Ministries of Interior and Defence, Amnesty International said. “Nabeel Rajab is being unjustly punished simply for posting tweets deemed insulting to the authorities. His conviction is a blow to freedom of expression – it must be quashed. He should be released immediately and unconditionally,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

They chanted slogans against the Al Khalifa monarchy and demanded the release of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Ali Salman, the secretary general of Bahrain's main opposition bloc, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society.

“The West believes in the protection of human rights and democracy, but when it comes to the regimes in the region, such values are ignored and not discussed at a greater level because of these interests they have in the Persian Gulf,” Sheikh Salman told Press TV in an exclusive interview just before his arrest on December 28.

The groups said they had "grave concern over the systematic targeting of prominent political activists, former members of parliament, clerics and others. The Bahraini authorities did not provide substantial evidence as to why these individuals' citizenships have been revoked."

"The authorities have provided the vaguest of reasons for the deprivation of nationality, which appears to have been taken on the basis of the victims' political views," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"Most worryingly, the authorities are making some in the group stateless. This, as well as any arbitrary deprivation of nationality, is prohibited under international law," he said.

Way back in 2011, when the Arab Spring began and protests spread across the country, demanding more democracy and better representation for Shiites, Obama himself pressed for change in Bahrain. In February 2011, as protesters massed in the tens of thousands at Manama’s Pearl Roundabout, the president issued a statement welcoming reform plans — which, alas, were never really carried through — announced by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Obama reaffirmed that it was the U.S. position that Bahrain’s stability would be ensured through “respecting the universal rights of the people of Bahrain and reforms that meet the aspirations of all Bahrainis.”

The king, however, answered Obama’s call for reform with more repression. On March 14, he invited in troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help put down the protests. Thousands of security forces stormed the Pearl Roundabout demonstrations on March 16, clearing the protest camp and arresting its leaders. Two days later, the Pearl Monument at the center of the roundabout, which had become an icon of the protests, was demolished, and closed the area off to the public.

In the aftermath of the crackdown, Obama’s tone on Bahrain noticeably toughened. The message was clear: Stability must depend on respecting the rights of the people, not on foreign troops. When the president gave a major speech on the Middle East in May 2011, he was even more critical of Bahrain and its policy of repression: “We have insisted both publicly and privately that mass arrests and brute force are at odds with the universal rights of Bahrain’s citizens, and … such steps will not make legitimate calls for reform go away.”

Later in that speech, he said that Shiites “must never have their mosques destroyed in Bahrain,” raising one of the most explosive aspects of how the Sunni government has attempted to suppress protests by the Shiite majority.

In Obama’s September 2011 address to the U.N. General Assembly, the tiny country got a whole paragraph. The president said that the United States “will continue to call on the government and the main opposition bloc — the Wifaq — to pursue a meaningful dialogue that brings peaceful change that is responsive to the people.” He also said that reforms had been made, but that “more is required” — three words that amounted to a clear message that the monarchy was falling short. The White House was not about to let the king off the hook — and the president himself was raising the issue, not some spokesperson.

What has happened since then? Not much.

There has been little or no progress in Bahrain — domestic tensions have instead risen higher. Everything President Obama demanded has been refused. In June 2011, an independent commission was established to examine the events during the early months of the uprising, and in November it reported its findings to the king. Its recommendations, however, were roundly ignored: In 2012, the commission’s chairman, law professor Cherif Bassiouni, delivered what George Washington University’s Marc Lynch termed a “scathing critique of its failure to undertake any deeper political or social reforms.”

Bassiouni has given the government credit for taking a number of his recommendations — even as he laid out Manama’s failings to resolve the underlying grievances of the protests. “There are very, very fundamental social and economic issues involved in the Shiite population that need to be addressed, and have not been addressed,” he said in a 2014 interview. “When you have people who do not have the hope of seeing themselves as equal citizens, as having equal opportunities in a particular country, living in mostly economic underprivileged areas in high-density population areas, they explode.”

Others are even more critical. In May 2014, Human Rights Watch issued areport finding that, despite the king’s promised reforms, “members of security forces are rarely prosecuted for unlawful killings, including in detention, and the few convictions have carried extremely light sentences.”

The Bahraini government has also adopted new methods to silence opposition voices. In January 2015, it stripped 72 citizens of their nationality, renderingmany of them stateless. As Amnesty International pointed out, the authorities included human rights and political activists on the same list as Bahrainis who allegedly went to fight with the Islamic State (IS). So the government of Bahrain is trying to equate peaceful protest with jihadi terrorism.

While the government is painting all protesters as “terrorists” who support the Islamic State, its own policy appears to be one of promoting sectarian divisions.

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary detention, judicial harassment and torture of Mr. Hussain Jawad, Chairman of the European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR). On February 21, 2015, Mr. Jawad appeared before the Public Prosecution for another case brought against him (see background information). He appeared to have suffered from physical and psychological torture and ill-treatment. He was allegedly beaten, threatened with death, and (...)

#ChinaQuitBalochistan

China and Pakistan are partners in crime against the Baloch nation. Balochistan is in a state of war with Pakistan and fora country like China to name Baloch exploitation of resourcesand land as development and prosperity is questionable.We request all Baloch political parties, human rights activists, social media activists, journalists and the internationalcommunity to join us in our online campaign to speak upagainst Chinese exploitation of Baloch resources and illegal colonization of Balochistan by occupying Gawadar port with the help of Pakistan.Hashtag for the online campaign is: #ChinaQuitBalochistanDate: 18th February 2015 Day: WednesdayTimings: 8pm to 12 am (Balochistan)

In 2014, Dr. Allah Nizar Baloch, the most respected intellectual-cum-guerrilla commander, in an interview with Tarek Fatah, a Toronto-based columnist, explained, “I am not a terrorist and we are not terrorists. We are fighting for our freedom and our struggle is based on the international law.” Let us deliberate on the matter.

In a war of liberation, an occupying power always tries to present the rightful opposition to occupation as terrorism. The oppressed is presented falsely as backward, savage, terrorist and violator of human rights. And by doing so, the oppressor sets the stage in the eyes of the international community to justify occupation, oppression and atrocities carried out by the occupying power in the occupied territory. The state machinery and the wealth plundered from the subjugated people are used to conduct the overall operations in order to maintain control and prolong the unjust occupation.

Today, the Pakistani media as part of the state machinery is viciously engaged in a propaganda war against the liberation movement in the occupied Balochistan. The Pakistani state portrays Baloch freedom fighters as “miscreants – alienated Baloch – separatists – terrorists” to malign the true history of a people in struggle for rights and freedom. The case against the Baloch armed resistance as highlighted in the Pakistani press involves baseless accusations of carrying out a campaign of targeting Punjabi settlers in Balochistan. The press alleges that Baloch fighters attack innocent, non-combatant, non-Baloch civilians in Balochistan. It is understandable that Pakistani media is supporting the state; however, such allegations are totally unfounded and baseless.

Pakistan occupied Balochistan in 1948. Since then the Baloch nation has resisted the unlawful occupation with armed uprisings and political struggles that have continued to date. In all cases, Pakistan army was used to brutally crush the nationalist movement resulting in the militarization of Balochistan and complete ban on the political process. Besides military means, there are other state machineries which underpin the Pakistani rule over Balochistan.

Along with the Pakistan army, the notorious Frontier Corps (FC), Makran Constabulary, Police, Levies and intelligence agencies have established basses, check posts, and surveillance networks in the universities, towns, tribal areas, sea ports, and energy-sensitive installations such as Sui in the Bugti area. Testing of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and WMDs in Chaghai area is part of the grand design to control, exploit and suppress the local populace in the province.

The already precarious situation in Balochistan has been further complicated by the state-sponsored use of religious card against Baloch nationalists. A number of proxy organizations and non-state actors are now actively involved in the targeted killings and enforced disappearances of Baloch leaders, intellectuals, students, and commoners.

Pakistani state-sponsored Talibanization is part of the counterinsurgency measures to contain the rising Baloch nationalism. It has led to the creation of militant jihadi outfits backed by the state now involved in secretive operations along with the FC and the army in Balochistan. Nifaz-e-Amn-e-Balochistan, Sipah-e-Shuhda-e-Balochistan, and Balochistan Musallah Difaei Tanzeem are a few examples of the ISI-founded groups targeting the Baloch resistance in addition to the ISIS chapter in Balochistan who call themselves the Lashkar-e-Khorasan. These organizations operate openly at the behest of the Pakistani army and intelligence agencies and have openly claimed killing of Baloch activists. They publicly circulate their literature, do wall chalking, and terrorize local residents. They have issued religious fatwas (decrees) against Baloch secular organizations, Zikis, and writers, intellectuals, target-killed educationists, forcefully shut down girl’s schools, and attacked women with acid on their faces. They are also responsible for carrying out genocide of Shia Hazaras and Baloch Zikri Community in Balochistan. Baloch freedom fighters have always countered such forces. However, ISIS presence in the region can change the scene forever in favor of Islamist terrorists if international community does not help Baloch organizations to resist their notorious agendas.

The human rights situation in Tibet is deteriorating, particularly death in detention, collective punishment and restrictions imposed on the right to freedom of assembly and association, the annual report of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) stressed.

It said Tibetan prisoners are subjected to torture, beatings and denial of medical care. "In 2014, an increasing number of Tibetans died because of mistreatment in detention," the 2014 annual report said.

Europe’s top rights body has said mass surveillance practices are a fundamental threat to human rights and violate the right to privacy enshrined in European law.

The parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe says in a report that it is “deeply concerned” by the “far-reaching, technologically advanced systems” used by the US and UK to collect, store and analyse the data of private citizens. It describes the scale of spying by the US National Security Agency, revealed by Edward Snowden, as “stunning”....

(January 19th, 2015 | Florence, Italy) To respect the basic right of free expression and end judicial persecution and harassment, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights calls on the court of Bahrain to drop all charges against Nabeel Rajab. The government cannot guarantee an independent procedure in this case and should present evidence to justify the detention and trial or Rajab and others.

Rajab's being held is the latest in a government crackdown against political opposition. In addition, Sheikh Ali Salman, the secretary general of the main political opposition recognized legally in Bahrain, has been held since December 29th, 2014 and charged with the promotion of violence and defamation of "a statutory body". Last week the government arbitrarily arrested nine children under 18 years of age.

All of these incidents are violations of the freedom of expression for anyone brave enough to raise their voice against the regime. Tomorrow 20th January, Nabeel Rajab should be released and no further unjustified prosecutions should continue.

As long as Saudi oil is seen as a valuable resource for US oil corporations, the US will maintain relations with the feudal regime regardless of what that means for the rights of Saudi people, Sara Flounders, of the International Action Center, told RT.

Yesterday, Bahrain's foreign minister took part in a Paris rally in protest of the recent killings at the Charlie Hebdo offices and elsewhere. Meanwhile, his government continues to harass journalists and other peaceful critics, including human rights defender Hussain Jawad, who is charged with free speech-related offenses and faces court tomorrow.

Chair of the European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR), Jawad faces the usual charges levied against human rights activists -- insulting the monarchy and inciting hatred against the regime. It's an important case not only because Jawad is a prominent member of civil society in Bahrain, but also because his arrest occurred when he went to a police station to complain about his being targeted by a newspaper that is loyal to the government.

Some things never change. In Haiti, no matter the century or decade in question, one can be certain that: the state and elite are trouncing the rights and needs of the majority, the population is protesting to demand land and justice, and the international community is taking the wrong side.

Five years after the earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 (no one knows for sure) and rendered 1.9 million more people homeless, the fraudulently elected administration of Michel Martelly has abandoned any pretense of democracy.Having failed to hold elections three years in a row, instead letting national and local elective seats become vacant, the government now rules by decree. It is alsoattacking and killing human rights defenders. The elite, in combination with foreign corporations, are seizing land for agribusiness, mining, tourism, and free trade zones. The grassroots has taken to the streets to demand democratic government and an end to foreign occupation by the UN. Social movements are also mobilizing for defense of land, housing, and rights. The US has, until recent months, staunchly supported the government. It has backed this support with “security” funding, including more than $7 million for the police in 2015, for a nation not at war against anyone but its own people.

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